In a world with an intellectual history of seven thousand years behind it, where do Pakistanis stand, what are they doing, what do they aspire to be, and what ought they to be doing? This Blog takes Notes of all of that ...

Friday, December 7, 2012

What’s your qualification, Mr. Prime Minister?

How
vacuous the speeches and statements of state dignitaries look!

But
it is for them to inaugurate this or that thing, to make speeches! It seems
that’s the only thing they can do, at least in Pakistan! Maybe since they have nothing else to do,
they like to be the chief guests at many an occasion so diverse in nature that
they would never be able to go to were they not in that position.

The
difficult part of this exercise requires them to deliver speeches. However,
they are privileged – they have speech-writers. That makes their speeches all
Greek to understand as the speeches delivered by their very persons. Almost as
a rule they are all, again at least in Pakistan, not as qualified and
cultivated, or in short so learned that they would naturally be delivering
speeches as the occasions require.

So,
as far as their speech-writers are concerned, no doubt they are there to prove
their intellectual mettle, and prepare such speeches which may be ranked as the
best speeches in any contests, however, the speeches such written do not match
their speakers’ intellectual credentials. The moment these speeches are
delivered by the dignitaries for whom they are written they lose their
substance, their content, and their tenor also. At best, they turn out to be
fake. The moment state dignitaries deliver them, these speeches stand stripped
of their context, and thus any relevance, but in a negative sense.

Here
is the latest example:

The
Prime Minister, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf was chief guest at the 12th
Convocation of the Fatima Jinnah Women University, Rawalpindi, held at the
Convention Centre, Islamabad on November 30. While addressing the ceremony, the
Prime Minister uttered the following words:

“Higher
education opens unlimited vistas and possibilities of success and growth. The
foremost responsibility of the university is to produce well-informed,
motivated and cultured citizens of the nation. However, the universities in our
country have to play a positive role in tapping the intellect and creating
awareness among the students and scholars to help translate our potential for
growth and development into reality. We have to work together to take our state
forward along the path of inclusive growth and development through intellectual
and scientific knowhow.”

Mr.
Prime Minister, does higher education open any vistas of possibilities of
success and growth in Pakistan? You must be knowing how your government is
attacking the HEC (Higher Education Commission) these days, to deprive it of
its autonomous status, and make it subservient to the personal interests of
politicians!

Mr.
Prime Minister, you must be knowing how your party’s boss and the incumbent President,
and the former prime minister, ministers and advisers, and party leaders had
been / are appointing their favorites to such positions for which they were /
are not qualified, and a number of cases of such appointments made in violation
of merit and all the relevant rules and regulations are in the courts!

Mr.
Prime Minister, you must be knowing in various government departments jobs are
being given to the workers and associates loyal to the party and its leaders,
and no merit is being observed anywhere!

What
has become of PIA and Pakistan Steel, you must be knowing well! Newspapers of
December 5, report that according to its own management, the PIA hired only 3 %
(600) of employees on merit out of a total of 20, 000. So, who are the
remaining 97 % (19, 400), you must be knowing, Mr. Prime Minister!

What
is there your party’s government did through these 5 years to promote these
things about which you delivered this speech? Or it was a meaningless speech
delivered there because you were there to honor the occasion as the chief
guest!

Mr.
Prime Minister, in your speech you talk about ‘inclusive growth and development
through intellectual and scientific knowhow,’ do you know meaning of these
words! What is intellectual knowhow; what is scientific knowhow, Mr. Prime
Minister, and how these help inclusive growth and development?

Mr.
Prime Minister, would you mind telling us the citizens of this state what
qualifications Mr. Pervaiz Elhai possessed to be appointed as the Deputy Prime
Minister of Pakistan? And what about your own qualifications!

Mr.
Prime Minister, of course, you would relax in the “theory of people’s mandate,”
but you know well that it’s all a manipulated mandate? Wasn’t it the sweet-will
of your party’s boss which picked you out as the Prime Minister of this hapless
country?

Mr.
Prime Minister, while nepotism, favoritism, cronyism, and corruption are
rampant, what does your speech stand for? What did you talk about in your
speech? Was there anything in your speech which may qualify to be translated
into reality?

The Blogger

The blogger cherishes a cosmopolitan spirit; he is a moralist; a rationalist; a philosopher; a political philosopher; he believes in Classical Liberalism, as a Theory of Conduct.
He has substantially contributed to the founding of the first free market think tank of Pakistan, Alternate Solutions Institute.
He is a writer who wrote / published dozens of articles on a variety of issues, and is author of 4 books.
He wrote / published short-stories in Punjabi, a regional language of Pakistan.
He composes poetry both in Urdu and Punjabi, and has already published one collection.